Key facts

COMPETITIVE SAILING SECTOR

1 st European centre for offshore racing

210 economic players

2.300 jobs including 980 associated with the competitive sailing market

348 million € turnover including €83.5 million associated with the competitive sailing market

200 stables and sports projects

3 Ultim teams out of 6 at the Route du Rhum starting line

11 Imoca teams out of 33 at the Vendée Globe starting line

MATERIAL AND COMPOSITE SECTOR

113 companies including 46 for the boating industry

2.050 direct jobs

367 million € turnover

8 teams researching materials

6 technological platforms

2 competitiveness clusters

What Bretagne brings you

Complete ecosystem

From research to manufacturing, via development and training, from large composite parts to customised on-board systems, the 210 players in the Bretagne ecosystem cover some thirty trades related to offshore racing. In Bretagne you will find your industrial and technological partners to develop and manufacture your products.

Land of experimentation

With 200 active stables and sports projects, including 11 Imoca teams, 3 Ultim teams, 8 to 9 Class40s and 80 to 90 Mini projects, and the construction of 10 new Imoca boats at the end of the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe, Bretagne Sailing Valley is the only place to be for experimenting with your technologies. Here, the teams find companies of excellence, high technology and innovation that meet their performance challenges. A signature of collective intelligence, the Imocas and the Ultim maxi-trimarans concentrate all the know-how of the nautical industry, highlighted during the major offshore races.

Collective dynamic

The Bretagne players in the competitive sailing, nautical and naval sectors cooperate to innovate and progress. Eurolarge Innovation, Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, and Bretagne Pôle Naval bring together companies and research laboratories around collaborative projects to develop clean technologies, improve safety and protect the environment. The Ecovoile project brings together the various technological building blocks of a sailing boat for a transition towards sustainable performance.

Cutting-edge expertise in materials

At the heart of competitive sailing, materials have to meet performance challenges. Bretagne has developed an ecosystem of excellence around smart, biosourced, eco-designed and recyclable materials and large, high-precision composite parts. The following are mobilised : 150 players including 113 companies, cutting-edge research, an innovation dynamic with research centres, testing resources and technical and technological platforms.

Technology transfers

A veritable laboratory of innovation and high on-board technologies, competitive sailing brings diversified know-how that can be applied to many other sectors. From the space industry to renewable marine energies, via the nautical industry and maritime transport, they all face the same ecological transition and safety challenges. Eurolarge Innovation, Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique and Bretagne Pôle Naval support companies in their innovations and technological advances and in transferring their technologies.

A dedicated incubator

Finistère Mer Vent is an incubator and accelerator that supports the development of companies in the nautical and ocean racing sectors, particularly in four areas : safety at sea, energy, sustainable development and digital technology.

Opportunity : navigation of the future

Its dense maritime ecosystem and innovation dynamic make Bretagne a pioneering region in the navigation of the future, be it for the transport of passengers or cargo, oceanic research or defence. These sectors have a strong interest in the technologies involved in the design and manufacture of new generation clean boats, including sail and hydrogen propulsion systems. Examples: Hylias, Energy Observer, Grain de Sail, Towt, Brittany Ferries (LNG-electric battery hybrid ships).

Our talents :
Training, research, innovation

  • Training courses, from Bac+2 to the PhD, including ENSTA Bretagne, cover all activities in the competitive sailing, nautical and naval sectors, from joinery to on-board systems, via the mechanics or propulsion systems.
  • Institut de recherche de l’École Navale (IRENav) ; Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (IRDL), the reference laboratory for mechanical systems in Europe linked to material engineering; the main laboratories for digital sciences and technologies applied to the major national sectors, including the maritime environment: Lab-STICC, Irisa, Inria, IETR, ISEN Rennes. All these research centres have technical platforms and work hand-in-hand with companies, thereby facilitating technology transfers.
  • Other players specialise in materials and composites : the Compositic technical platform and the Innozh Composite technical and training centre, SUNI (ENS Rennes), Ifremer, MASMECA (ENSTA Bretagne), EMC2 (Advanced Manufacturing European hub), IRMA (Regional Institute for Advance Materials), the Excelcar industrial innovation accelerator.

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